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Leeds poet on a prize rich list
A TALENTED Leeds writer is on the shortlist for one of the world's richest literary awards.
Caroline Bird, 21, who grew up in Roundhay, is in the final six competing for the Dylan Thomas Prize and in the running for 60,000.
She was just 19 when she wrote her collection of poetry, Trouble Came to the Turnip and was the youngest on the long list of 16.
She was delighted to hear the judges had put her through to the next stage of the contest.
She said: "It's brilliant and I wasn't expecting it at all."
The prize, sponsored by the University of Wales, is for writers under 30 and is open to any work, from any genre, published in the English language.
Caroline, who is studying English at Oxford University, was only 15 when she had her first book published and has already nearly finished writing her third.
She said she wasn't thinking about whether or not she might win the accolade, she was just looking forward to reading the works by the other shortlisted authors, which includes Yorkshire-born Ross Raisin and critically-hailed Vietnamese Nam Le.
Caroline is already focusing on her next challenge, going to India on Sunday with charity Second Sight, which restores sight to people with cataracts.
Caroline will be holding poetry workshops with children in Rajasthan who have had surgery and are seeing for the first time. She will help them put feelings into words.
She said: "I was told the kids say they would love some way to pay back the charity for curing them. I'm going to bring back their poems and maybe publish them."
She said even if doing that only raised a small amount it would mean the world to the youngsters because they would have given back some money through their own efforts.
The 2008 Dylan Thomas Prize will be awarded on November 10 in Dylan Thomas's home town of Swansea.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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